Our world: Star gazing

GREG KAHN

12:08 AM, Sep 16, 2007

Rick Piper, president of the Everglades Astronomical Society, searches the night sky for far off galaxies during the club's monthly gathering in the Fakahatchee Strand, a state preserve in Southwest Florida. Piper, 56, who built his own telescope, decided not to aid his viewing with computer technology, but instead finding galaxies on his own. "I enjoy the chase as much as I do finding the objects. I'm kind of a diehard," Piper said.

Daily News

As another muggy Saturday night descends on the Everglades' Fakahatchee Strand, the state preserve shows almost no signs of civilization, only the occasional faint glow of city lights on the horizon.

Tonight, though, 14 members of the Everglades Astronomical Society have gathered in the darkness for their monthly viewing.

On these evenings, these night sky enthusiasts eagerly piece their telescopes, computers and cameras together for a long night of sky watching. Some stay until 3 a.m. putting everything from planets to exploding stars in the cross hairs of their telescopes. "Everybody has their favorite objects to observe, so there is no end to what you can learn," said Rick Piper, president of the society.

Piper, 56, of Naples, is in his second term as the club's president, and has been involved since the society's second meeting in 1981, when he was looking for people to help him build his own telescope. "I had already attempted to build one and it came out pretty decent, but I wanted to improve upon it," Piper said.

Piece by piece, he has constructed his own 8-foot long, 16-inch diameter telescope, which breaks down into three 50-pound pieces. They barely fit into the flatbed of his truck.

Although Piper could make his telescope follow specific objects in the sky with computer technology, he likes finding galaxies on his own. "I enjoy the chase as much as I do finding the objects. I'm kind of a diehard."

Piper's particular passion are deep sky objects, galaxies only visible using a high-powered telescope. "There is just something about looking at a galaxy maybe 13 million light years away, and knowing that the faint, faint light that you're seeing from it has traveled 13 million years to get here. I like the thought of seeing something distant like that."

The astronomical society is for anyone who loves looking up at stars with wonderment.

"I've always had a lifetime interest in astronomy but I never owned a telescope, and I just felt it was time to do something about it — and here I am now, hooked," said David Eimers, 49, of Naples, who joined in January.

Originally from rural New York, Eimers had seen many night sky events, but wondered how much better it would look through a telescope. "Since I've had my telescope there haven't been any comets or eclipses. However, I discovered there is so much more to see and so much more to enjoy. Once you go to a few of these dark sky viewings with the club, either you've got the bug or you don't. And I think that anyone who has the bug will find a way to get a telescope."

Charlie Paul, 72, of Naples, the society's viewing coordinator, calls the price of a telescope a minimal investment. "Once you buy your telescope, the sky is free," Paul said.